Page 2 of Maybe We Can Fake It

“Oh, no, we’re not hungry,” Elise says.

“Mom.” April fixes her with the best threatening stare I assume a person could pull off from a hospital bed. “I want to talk to my best friend alone.”

Elise looks torn between giving her daughter whatever she wants and not letting her out of her sight for even a minute. Which is understandable. May is wriggling even harder in her lap now, trying desperately to stand up with her tiny fifteen-month-old legs.

Yes, April named her daughter May. She thought it was funny. And she said if she ever has another girl, she’ll name her June.

Guess that’s not going to happen.

She also chose the name May as a bit of an homage to this small town in New England that she and her parents used to go to every couple years when she was younger. While she’s never had the greatest relationship with her parents and tends to avoid spending time with them if she can, she loved those vacations. The town must be some kind of magical place.

“Come on, Elise,” Grant says, gesturing toward the door. “I can’t remember the last time we ate.”

Elise glances once more at April, frowns, and then stands, cradling May to her chest. She walks around the bed to meet her husband by the door, and May starts flapping her arms in my direction as they get closer, so I wave to her.

“Hey, sweet girl.”

“Bren.”

Despite my mood coming in here, I grin. She can’t really say my name yet, but damn if it doesn’t melt my heart hearing her try.

When Elise takes her past me, she lets out a sharp cry and fusses more in her grandmother’s arms, struggling to get down.

“Oh, no,shhh,” Elise tries to soothe her.

“I can take her,” I say, standing up. “I’m sure the two of you could use a break.”

Elise’s face pinches. She looks uneasy, despite the fact that I’ve been around May since the day she was born. Before then, I had no experience with babies. But neither did April. We figured it out together.

“I don’t know,” Elise says. “That’s not...”

“Mom.”

Elise’s eyes swing to April again before she relents and hands May over to me. I take her carefully, propping one arm under her butt and wrapping my other securely around her back. Elise still looks unhappy with this, but finally she steps back.

“We’ll be right in the cafeteria if you need us,” Grant says, reaching for his wife’s arm.

Once they leave, I sit back down in the uncomfortable chair with May. She’s quieted down now and is smiling at me. I stand her up with her tiny feet on my thighs, holding her under her armpits to keep her steady. God, I love this girl.

April watches me and her daughter together with a combination of fondness and sadness in her eyes.

Having a baby at nineteen certainly wasn’t something April intended. College life had given her a first real taste of freedom, which kind of got the best of her—there was a lot of partying and random hookups. But that freedom didn’t last long when she got pregnant and decided to keep her baby. Suddenly, she was dropping out of school and back home living with her parents (who surprisingly didn’t disown her), ready to do whatever it took to raise May.

If you ask her, though, I bet she’ll say she hasn’t regretted her choice for even a minute. She loves May with everything she has.

And now...

Fuck.

Now she won’t get to see her daughter grow up. And poor May won’t even remember her.

These thoughts bring the tears I didn’t think I had left to my eyes. I try to hold them back as May pouts at me, reaching out and poking my face with her stubby fingers. Sucking in a deep breath, I force a smile for her, and her eyes light up as she coos.

“I need to ask you something.”

I shift my gaze to April. “Yeah?”

“I want you to be May’s guardian.”

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